Steered trundle toy



Aug. 4, 1953 A. L J. zlLER; ETA; 2,647,343

STEERED TRUNDLE TOY Filed oct. 18, 195o Patented Aug. 4, 1953 Alberto rLeopoldo Julio Zileri and Michel. Freudenstein, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Application October 18, 1950, Serial No. 190,757

This invention relates to a new toy and more particularly to a steered trundle toy in which the main features of a motor car are present in accordance with a childs interpretation.

One of vchildrens preferred toys is a pedalmotor-car which however in View of its relatively high selling price is not accessible to a great sector of the population.

The present .invention relates to a new toy which comprises a steering wheel which is for a child the most important part of a motor car. The steering wheel of the toy here to be described controlsr a pair of wheels mounted on a suitable frame which is fastened to the child so that the child may run with the toy and control the direction of the wheels by means of the steering wheel. It is obvious that the new toy cannot be compared with a pedal-motor-car but nevertheless it can be psychologically compared with a motor car, in accordance with a childs mind.

The new toy comprises a linked lever frame, a pair of wheels supporting said lever frame, a steering wheel coupled to said linked lever frame for position controlling said pair of wheels, and a support connected to said linked lever frame and having a free end provided with fastening means for fastening said toy to a human being.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a new toy which psychologically substitutes the pedal-motor-car.

Another object is to provide a new toy the production price of which shall be considerably smaller than that of a pedal-motor-car.

A still further object is to provide a new toy easy to manufacture.

In order to :facilitate the understanding ci. the present invention, the latter will now be described with regard to a specic embodiment by way of example, and in relationship with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the new toy, in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a part sectional side view of a detail of the steering wheel arrangement.

As may be seen in Fig. 1, the new toy comprises a pair of wheels I and 2 rotatably mounted on stub shafts 3 and It, respectively. A linked lever frame consisting of levers 5, (i, I and 3 forms an articulated parallelogram. In fact, lever 5 is articulated by means of pins 9 and It to levers 1 and 8, respectively, and lever 5 is articulated by means of pins II and I2 spaced away from pins 9 and II), also to levers I and 8, respectively 3 Claims. (Cl. I6-220) 2y stub shafts 3 and 4 are supported by levers i and 8.

Lever 5 comprises acentral projection I3 and two side projections Ill symmetrical with regardr to the central projection I3.

A pair of pins I5 and' I6 is supported by the middle portion of lever II, said pair of pins I5 and 4I6 being spaced in'parallel relationship and with their respective free ends directed downwardly. Y, v

Ak steering wheel I'I `is fastened to one free end of a steering shaft I8v passing through a perforation I9 of the central vprojection I3, and also rotatably supported bya bearing or journal 2t having an arm 2I fastened to lever 5 by means of rivets 22. A collar 23 is fixed to steering shaft I8 adjacent to bearing 20 and between said bearing and said steering wheel Il, in order to avoid that steeringshaft I8 be displaced-downwardly. Said steering shaft I8 comprises a second portion 24 forming a crank, the free end 25 of which passes through the space defined by said pair of pins I5 and I5, so that upon actuating steering wheel II, crank24 will displace the pair of pins I5 and I6 with regard to the central` projection I3 and thereby vary the angles'of the linked lever frame and consequently the direction in which the wheels I and 2 tend to advance.

Side projections Id are provided with suitable weights for example in the form of lamp shaped bodies 26 fixed to side projections I ci by means of screws 21 which also support one end of a re' spective bar "28, the other end of which is provided with a slot 29throughwhi'ch a belt di! passes provided with press buttons SI.

Bars 28 form a support which by means of belt 38' is secured to' thewaist of the user, who may run withthe toyand control its direction by means of steering wheel. I'I. The weights 25 are added in order to helpst'abilize the toyl while in motion. The fastening means of the belt .'-BiI in the form of press buttons are highly advisable in order to ensure that, if the child falls, the belt immediately opens and the toy rolls away. If desired, the lamp shaped bodies 2&5 may be real lamps connected to a suitable dynamo arrangement as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In order to facilitate the packing question of the toy and at the same time to provide a toy which can be used for children of diflerent ages, steering shaft I8 as well as bars 23 are of the telescopical type, as shown in Fig. 2, which telescopical arrangement will be described with regard to the steering shaft I 3, but it is understood that a similar arrangement is used for bars 2t.

The steering shaft i8 is formed of a tubular member 32 provided with a plurality of transverse perforations 33. A shaft 34E slidably and partially housed in said tubular member 32 is provided at its lower end portion with a transverse perforation 35. Said perforation 35 being partially closed at both ends by collar plates 3i; and 3l screwed into said perforation 35. A pair of pin members 38 and 3S also housed in said perforation 35 extend through respective openn ings of collar plates 36 and 31, and are adapted to pass through perforation 33 of tubular inember 32 in view of the pressure which spring le exerts on said pin members 38 and 39, respecn tively, so that upon coincidence of perforation 35 and transversal perforation 33, pin members 33 and 3B establish a linkage between tubular member 32 and shaft 3Q.

In view of the fact that tubular member 32 has a plurality of perforations 33 the length of steering shaft I8 may thereby be regulated. A similar regulation may be carried out with bars 2S,

Steering wheel ll is secured to steering shaft 'i 8 by means of screw fil. Wheels l and 2 as Well as steering wheels il are disniouhtable so that the toy may be kept in a relatively small box.

We claim:

l.. A steered trundle toy comprising a pair of wheels, a linked lever frame in the form of an articulated parallelogram having a rst pair of relatively long levers and a second pair of relatively short levers, a steering Wheel, a steering shaft having a free end, said steering Wheel being mounted on said free end of said steering shaft, a journal having two ends, for said steeru ing shaft, said journal being supported by one of said levers of said first pair of relatively long levers and adjacent thereto, the axis of said` journal forming an acute angle with the plane defined by said parallelogram, said steering shaft projecting out on one end of said journal and extending beyond the other lever of said pair of relatively long levers and having at the end thereof said steering Wheel, the length of said projecting part of said steering shaft between said journal and said steering wheel being suieient to provide the necessary distance vbetween said parallelogram and said steering Wheel to provide room for an operator of the toy, a portion of said steering shaft emerging out of the other end oi said journal forming a crank substantially in a parallel plane with regard to the plane formed by said parallelogram, the axis of said oraux forming with the axis of said steering shaft an acute angle substantially equal to the angle formed between said journal and said parallelogram plane, said crank being operatively connected with the other lever of said pair of relatively long levers, said levers of said second pair of relatively short levers each supporting a stub shaft having a free end on which one wheel of said pair of Wheels is rotatably mounted, a pair of bars connected to the lever supporting said journal said pair of bars being in spaced relationship with each other, one on each side of said steering shaft, said bars having slots, a belt passing through said slots, said belt having two free ends provided with separable pressure fastening means, said steering shaft and said bars being of the telescopic type.

2. A Z-wheeled steered trundle toy comprising in combination; a linked lever frame in the form of an articulated parallelogram having a first pair of relatively long levers and a second pair of relatively short levers, a stub axle mounted on each short lever substantially transversely thereto and intermediate the ends thereof, a pair of ground-engaging wheels rotatable on said axles, an elongated steering shaft, an elongated journal having a longitudinal axis mounted on one of said long levers with its axis at an acute angle to the plane dened by said parallelograin, the lower end of said steering shaft being carried in said journal, collar means adjacent said journal for preventing relative movement between said steering shaft and said journal along said longitudinal axis, a crank attached to the lower end of said steering shaft at an acute angle thereto and extending from adjacent said one of said long' levers towards the other long lever, stop means on said other long lever, said crank means being operatively connected to said other long lever by said stop means, and a steering Wheel mounted on a perpendicular to the upper end of said steering shaft.

A toy as set forth in claim 2 including means for pushing said parallelogram comprising a pair of substantially parallel bars having one pair of free ends and being connected at their other ends to said paralieiograin, and a strap connected to the free ends of said bars adapted to attach said free ends to a chlid.

ALBERTO LEOPGLDO JULIO ZILERI. MICHEL FREUDENSTEIN References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Nan-ie Date 1,996,546 Lindberg Apr. 2, 1935 2,068,403 Elistrom Jan. 19, 1937 2,104,346 Kreeft Jan. 4, 1938 2,260,679 Neilson Oct. 28, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 14,513 Great Britain Apr. 27, 1911 

